Regulated power supplies or voltage regulators are typically required to provide the voltage and current supply to microelectronic devices. The voltage regulator is designed to deliver power from a primary source to an electrical load at the specified current, voltage, and power efficiency. Switching power converters (SPCs) are commonly used voltage regulators due to their high efficiency, high current capability, and topology flexibility. In addition, SPCs can be designed to provide very precise voltage and current characteristics required by devices such as microprocessors, microcontrollers, memory devices, and the like.
Power requirements for emerging leading edge technology microprocessors have become very difficult to satisfy. As the speed and integration of the microprocessors increases, the demands on the power regulation system also increase. In particular, as the gate counts increase, the power regulation current demand increases, the operating voltage decreases and the transient events (e.g., relatively large voltage spikes or droops at the load) typically increase in both magnitude and frequency.
SPCs utilizing step-down multi-phase buck converters have been the preferred topology to meet the low voltage and high current requirements of microprocessors. With the advent of increasingly complex power regulation topologies, digital techniques for power converter control can improve precision and reduce the system's total parts count while also supporting multiple applications in the same power system through digitally programmable feedback control.